Tourists flock to Space Coast for Discovery's launch

Tourists flock to Space Coast for launch

MARTIN MERZER and PHIL LONGKnight Ridder Newspapers

Published Monday, July 25, 2005

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A MOTORCYCLIST passes a sign indicating space shuttle Discovery is scheduled for launch in two days in Merritt Island on Sunday. Discovery, scheduled for launch Tuesday, will carry a crew of seven on a 12-day mission to the International Space Station. By WILFREDO LEE, The Associated Press

CAPE CANAVERAL -- Driving through shimmering heat, scouting for the best sites, attracted by an out-of-this-world spectacle of uncertain occurrence and certain termination, thousands of tourists pulled into motels, hotels and campsites Sunday.

The location: the Space Coast. The purpose: to see a spaceship blast off.

The launch of Discovery on the first shuttle mission since the Columbia accident of February 2003 is scheduled for 10:39 a.m. EDT Tuesday. Forecasters were reasonably encouraging -- predicting a 60 percent chance of sufficiently clear skies.

"It's the allure of space, how they build the spaceships, how much power it takes to get the shuttle off the ground," said Hilarie Locke, 46, of Englewood, near Sarasota.

She drove cross-state Sunday to be positioned for the launch and because of this: Her son, Jordan, 10, begins a week at Camp Kennedy Space Center on Monday.

"We're going to build rockets and see a space shuttle launch," he said. "Not many people get to see it up close."

With the countdown still proceeding smoothly, NASA declared Discovery, its ground crew and its seven astronauts ready for another attempt to resume the troubled shuttle program.

"We've had a great many challenges ... ," said Jeff Spaulding, a NASA test director. But now, "they're focused, they're excited, they're ready to go."

He and other NASA managers said they thought they have adequately dealt with a fuel sensor glitch that forced them to scrub a July 13 launch attempt. The malfunction remains mysterious, but engineers say they don't expect it to cause more trouble.

That was good news for the local tourist industry, undermined by the 2 1/2-year suspension of shuttle launches and rocked last year by hurricanes Frances and Jeanne.

The launch should bring in nearly $10 million in direct spending by the estimated 175,000 day visitors and thousands of others who stay overnight, said Rob Varley, executive director of the Space Coast Office of Tourism.

That is about double the take generated by a typical launch before the loss of Columbia and its seven astronauts brought the program to a halt.

Losing five launches a year for more than two years cost the area more than $50 million in tourist spending, Varley said.

"It is a great draw to the Space Coast," he said of shuttle liftoffs. "It brings worldwide attention to the Space Coast and sets the tone for tourism over here."

Alas, it all may end in a few years. NASA plans to terminate the program by 2010, eventually replacing the shuttle with a spaceship yet to be designed.

Some tourism-related concerns surfaced after the scrub of Discovery's first launch attempt, and Varley had to lower his visitor estimates, which originally reached 250,000.

But hotel managers said most rooms were quickly rebooked after NASA announced another try for Tuesday.

"It's kind of like a Daytona 500 weekend," said Teri Stanbro, general manager of the Best Western Space Shuttle Inn in Titusville, at one of the main Interstate 95 exits to the Kennedy Space Center. The hotel is sold out for the launch.

At the same time, many Space Coast residents said they were grateful for the program's resumption for reasons that extended beyond revenue and profit.

"It picks up the spirit of the people around here," said Linda Myers, manager of Dogs-R-Us, a restaurant that offers good, if distant, views of the launch pad. "It makes the whole community come alive."